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Derek Eberhart, PhD is Associate Vice President for Research and Executive Director of Innovation Gateway at the University of Georgia (UGA). He led the strategic integration of UGA’s intellectual property licensing and startup programs to streamline the path from university to market and foster economic development. UGA has ranked among the Top 5 U.S. universities for new products reaching the market for the past 12 years. Over 1300 products and 250 companies are based on UGA research.
Before joining UGA, Derek served as Director, Alliance and Portfolio Management at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, where he helped manage Lexicon's drug discovery partnerships. Derek received his bachelor's and master's degrees from UGA, his PhD in genetics and molecular biology at Emory University and served as an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. He is active in the innovation community, including serving on the Georgia Life Sciences Board of Directors and the Board of the Georgia Intellectual Property Alliance.